Crack in the neck pocket..Is this common?

[dinkyguitar]

Hi All,

Both my 93 Dinky's have cracks in the lower cutaway of the guitar starting at the corner where by the neck starts to meet the body going outward...

One is slight and about 1/4"...The other is about an inch long and I can feel it with my finger nail...

Both are maple on top of bassword. Is this normal and is this normally a crack in the wood or is it just the clearcoat, which if quite thick on both guitars...I'm not about to mess with the paint to find out since the paint job is still very good. But I was wondering if this will be a problem later on..

For now, it doesn't seem like it interfering with playing or anything..

dinkyguitar

[vklobucar]

If its just the clearcoat then yes. One of my oldest PC1's (1997) has a neck pocket clear coat crack. Has not changes or moved in ages and is pretty common actually.

[dinkyguitar]

When I took the neck off after buying it, I checked the neck pocket but didn't see anything unusual.

So hopefully it's just in the clearcoat.

dinkyguitar

[DonP]

Seems to be very common, but I think it's due to the guitar taking a hit and the neck pocket taking the brunt of the force.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Very common on older guitars, they're usually in the finish, I've actually never encountered one that was in the wood although it CAN happen from abuse or just a very poor fit.

Even with patience and practice it's tough to get a bolt-on neck just right. Too loose and you get gaps, too tight and you pull chunks of paint of when you remove the neck or have finish cracks at the neck pocket when the wood swells in the summer. I tend to leave a little gap (thin piece of paper) along the upper edge to avoid chipping paint and leave it a little tighter, but not "cram it in there" tighter, toward the bottom.

Swapping necks around that you "make it fit" or cranking the neck left and right in the neck pocket, dropping it, or just lots of humidity and you'll eventually get them on most bolt-ons. It's not something I really worry about too much.

The wood flexes more than the paint will, especially once the paint gets older (at least as I understand it, poly gets a little more brittle when it gets older, but maybe that doesn't apply to modern paints.)

[dinkyguitar]

OK...Thanks guys!!

dinkyguitar

[wolfbane20]

Ive noticed that soft woods like Basswoord and Certain types of poplar tend to get neck cracks more easily then other woods. Hence the constant neck cracks in alot of the lat 80s early 90s MIJ Ibanez RGs with square pockets